The study, conducted by researchers at UQ, investigated the psychology of those who practiced manifestation in the pursuit of success. Image: Michael Burrows via Pexels
The study, conducted by researchers at The University of Queensland, investigated the psychology of those who practiced “manifestation” in the pursuit of financial success and other material aspirations.
The research was undertaken over three studies with a total of 1023 participants, one-third of which endorsed manifestation beliefs.
The study defines “manifestation” as: the ability to cosmically attract success in life through positive self-talk, visualization, and symbolic actions (e.g., acting as if something is true).
With this definition in place, researchers Lucas J. Dixon, Matthew J. Hornsey and Nicole Hartley developed a scale to measure the participants’ level of belief in the power of manifestation.
Despite its modern connections to financial influencers, gurus, and New Age spirituality, the concept of manifesting success is not a particularly new one.
The same concepts can be found in Norman Vincent Peale’s 1952 book The Power of Positive Thinking, and in prosperity theology, a controversial branch of Christianity characterised by the belief that faith in God leads to material security and prosperity, which also gained popularity in the 1950s.
Recently, growing income inequality alongside an increasing desire for wealth, fame and physical attractiveness has led to a boom in the industry of success coaches, with financial and career-focused “experts,” “gurus,” and “influencers” proliferating on social media.
As of May 2023, videos featuring the tag “manifestation” received a combined 34.6 billion views on TikTok alone.
However, the findings from the study suggest that participant’s belief in the power of positive thinking could be doing more harm than good.
“Although manifesters felt more confident and optimistic about achieving success, we didn’t find objective proof to support the effectiveness of manifestation,” said Dixon.
“Those who scored higher on our manifestation scale perceived themselves as more successful, had stronger aspirations for success, and believed they were more likely to achieve future success.
“But they were also more likely to be drawn to risky investments, have experienced bankruptcy, and dangerously believed they could achieve an unlikely level of success more quickly.”
Another risk is that a strong belief in manifestation can hinder the efforts of educators and regulators to educate and inform the public, as realistic financial advice can often conflict with the underlying ethos of cosmic attraction and positive thinking.
“Typically, we found manifesters maintained their optimism even when their current financial situation was poor,” said co-author Nicole Hartley.
“We’d encourage more research into the so-called manifestation influencers who promise success in high-stakes areas like career and financial decision-making.”
The research is published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
